View Full Version : First Boom thoughts
I'm no audiophile, but have been playing with SlimDevices products for several years, and currently own a SB3 and 2 Duets.
I received my Boom yesterday afternoon, and thought I'd share some first thoughts.
1. Small! The unit is much smaller than I expected.
2. Heavy! Seems very heavy for the size of the unit.
3. Setup was extremely easy - plugged it in, set up the wireless networking, 2 quick firmware updates, and I was up and running. Great experience.
4. Great sound. This unit is NOT going to knock your socks off with heavy bass or incredibly loud volume, but the sound if very clear, and "spacious".
5. Liked the cloth bag (like others here), but not sure how or when I'll use it after pulling the Boom out of it.
6. Presets have been a little tricky for me - I'll need to play with them some more tonight.
Overall, great unit! Nice work, Slim....
Howard Passman
2008-09-09, 07:52
I'm no audiophile, but have been playing with SlimDevices products for several years, and currently own a SB3 and 2 Duets.
I received my Boom yesterday afternoon, and thought I'd share some first thoughts.
1. Small! The unit is much smaller than I expected.
2. Heavy! Seems very heavy for the size of the unit.
3. Setup was extremely easy - plugged it in, set up the wireless networking, 2 quick firmware updates, and I was up and running. Great experience.
4. Great sound. This unit is NOT going to knock your socks off with heavy bass or incredibly loud volume, but the sound if very clear, and "spacious".
5. Liked the cloth bag (like others here), but not sure how or when I'll use it after pulling the Boom out of it.
6. Presets have been a little tricky for me - I'll need to play with them some more tonight.
Overall, great unit! Nice work, Slim....
....except the cloth bag thing. It would still be very easy to damage if you were to transport it in the bag and I can't imagine why you would cover it otherwise. If you do like the bag, I think a small pocket for the remote is in order.
Howard
On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 7:52 AM, Howard Passman <
Howard.Passman.3fh6hn1220972103 (AT) no-mx (DOT) forums.slimdevices.com> wrote:
>
> damager;338464 Wrote:
> > I'm no audiophile, but have been playing with SlimDevices products for
> > several years, and currently own a SB3 and 2 Duets.
> >
> > I received my Boom yesterday afternoon, and thought I'd share some
> > first thoughts.
> >
> > 1. Small! The unit is much smaller than I expected.
> > 4. Great sound. This unit is NOT going to knock your socks off with
> > heavy bass or incredibly loud volume, but the sound if very clear, and
> > "spacious".
>
'Small' and 'Knock your socks off bass' are mutually exclusive. There's no
replacement for displacement :-)
That said, I don't think there's anything else in the class that has bass
performance that even comes close.
> Overall, great unit! Nice work, Slim....
>
Thanks, the team worked really hard to get this product out. :-)
As I also received my Boom just yesterday I thought I would add my own first thoughts, using the OP as kind of a template. I've owned a SB2 for a couple of years now. My primary use for the Boom will be as a bed-side alarm clock/"radio".
I agree that I was very happy with how small the unit is; fits perfectly on my bedside table. I'm not sure I would call the unit heavy, but I guess it is a little heavier than it appears. I would also agree that set-up was easy. Although I think some of this had to do with my familiarity from the SB2, I think the set-up was pretty intuitive and straightforward. Kind of a pain to enter in my WEP key, but even with that I was probably up and running in about 5 minutes or so.
As far as sound, I guess this will be a matter of preference, and how the Boom will be used. For me, and my use as a bedside player, I found the sound to be excellent and plenty "heavy" enough. For night listening I only had the volume around 40 and that was enough to fill the room. For late night listening I had the volume down to around 15 or so and it still sounded good. Haven't had the chance to "crank it up" yet.
The are only two things that I really didn't like. First, I know from following the Slim forums for a while that power supplies are discussed in great detail, so maybe there is an engineering reason for this, but I really would have preferred a "brick-in-the-middle" power supply over the rather large "wall wart". Makes plugging into a power-strip/surge protector a bit difficult. Second, and again there may be an engineering reason for this, but I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the way the front angles in from bottom to top, and then the top angles down from front to back. I may be in the minority here, but I think I would have preferred more of a "boxy" unit.
Overall though I'm very impressed. Great job!
On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 9:42 AM, soxfan <
soxfan.3fhbkz1220978703 (AT) no-mx (DOT) forums.slimdevices.com> wrote:
> I really would have preferred a "brick-in-the-middle" power supply over
> the rather large "wall wart".
This seems to fall about 50/50. It's a tough one. Bedroom users generally
prefer the 'fat-snake', kitchen users tend to prefer the wart. Though I
think everybody would prefer and internal PSU all else being equal. Of
course, all things aren't equal -- the unit would be bigger with an internal
PSU.
This seems to fall about 50/50. It's a tough one. Bedroom users generally
prefer the 'fat-snake', kitchen users tend to prefer the wart. Though I
think everybody would prefer and internal PSU all else being equal. Of
course, all things aren't equal -- the unit would be bigger with an internal
PSU.
Good point. Thanks for the feedback.
Oh, forgot to mention in my original post, I really like the way the snooze button works. Took a few presses to get used to; I kept expecting the typical "click".
androidtopp
2008-09-09, 10:57
In response to the bag - I just put it under the boom to protect my nightstand, for lack of anything better to do with it. It doesn't really need to be there, but whatever. Including the bag period is a nice touch.
This seems to fall about 50/50. It's a tough one. Bedroom users generally
prefer the 'fat-snake', kitchen users tend to prefer the wart. Though I
think everybody would prefer and internal PSU all else being equal. Of
course, all things aren't equal -- the unit would be bigger with an internal
PSU.
Well, the good thing is that people who prefer the brick-in-the-middle can add a short extension cord. But as you say, wall wart is better for kitchen. I've tried velcro-ing power bricks in various places to hide them, and it just never works.
I wonder if the clip on adaptors are strong enough to support a 1m cable with plug.
-kdf
The are only two things that I really didn't like. First, I know from following the Slim forums for a while that power supplies are discussed in great detail, so maybe there is an engineering reason for this, but I really would have preferred a "brick-in-the-middle" power supply over the rather large "wall wart". Makes plugging into a power-strip/surge protector a bit difficult.
Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy a 3 way wall plug for $2. Plug it into your power strip and the wall wart now only takes up one space and you have two additional outlets. Of course this is for power strips that have the inlets running up the strip not across. For across the strip, go to Ikea and buy their cheap 3 outlet power strip with cord for $5 and you now have a Brick-in-the-middle" power supply.
Kitchen, under cabinet, and on wall mounting just really require that the Boom come with a wall wart Power Supply.
I received my Boom today (in the UK) having preordered from the Logitech website and just thought I would add my comments.
First off, like all Slim Devices products, it looks great, impresses straight away and has been very well thought out. Slim Devices should be applauded for releasing this product so quickly to be honest, not many companies actually do what their customers ask them to do after all. And yet despite that, the forums are still full of suggestions for improvement or even for the next version.... some people are never satisfied!
My Squeezebox Boom is in my kitchen and replaces a Squeezebox 2 with attached computer speakers (demoted to the garage). Whilst it can't compete with my main audio setup for sound quality, it sounds really great, and nothing comes anywhere near it for the same price.
However, it was the functionality of the unit that impressed me even more. It was very easy to set up, and has not lost connection yet, even with the microwave on nearby. A big plus for me was that if you switch it off at the wall and back on again, it locates the wireless network and sets itself up in a matter of seconds. None of the previous Squeezebox players come close to this. I am not bothered about moving it around, but it does mean I can save power without having to set it up when I turn it back on.
Needless to say I am a very happy customer (again) and would recommend this product to anyone.
dwilliams01
2008-09-09, 17:25
Kitchen, under cabinet, and on wall mounting just really require that the Boom come with a wall wart Power Supply.
Never could figure that view out. Even under a cabinet I'd want to wrap all of the extra cable and the brick behind the unit with a zip tie (fastened to the cabinet or wall, etc.) to completely hide it and only have the thin power cord going down the wall to the plug. That is for a socket under the cabinet. I'd probably run a wire in the wall up to another socket inside the cabinet and then I'd want to only have a small cord running up in the cabinet to save space and still only have the brick in the middle wrapped up with the extra cord in a zip tie. To say nothing of the observation that brick in the middle styles usually seem to have longer and thinner shapes - easier to hide.
And that is with the advantages of a US bidirectional power plug. I imagine that the UK ones with their 3-prong unidirectional layout are more cumbersome to work around. My biggest challenge since I use it mainly outside is that I have 2 covered sockets that are just offset enough so that the covers prevent the wart from being plugged in at all (and one where I have to plug it in upside down in the top socket only). It does impact the ease of portability, but not significantly enough to counteract the other major advantages.
I guess I'm just not imaginative enough to come up with a way that makes a wall wart style good in any use case...
Ahhh... the joys of irreconcilable view points... :) As was pointed out some way had to be picked and, yes, you can add a small cord on the end (even pick a different color like white or brown, too, so that it will blend into the background better).
Never could figure that view out. Even under a cabinet I'd want to wrap all of the extra cable and the brick behind the unit with a zip tie (fastened to the cabinet or wall, etc.) to completely hide it and only have the thin power cord going down the wall to the plug. That is for a socket under the cabinet. I'd probably run a wire in the wall up to another socket inside the cabinet and then I'd want to only have a small cord running up in the cabinet to save space and still only have the brick in the middle wrapped up with the extra cord in a zip tie. To say nothing of the observation that brick in the middle styles usually seem to have longer and thinner shapes - easier to hide.
And that is with the advantages of a US bidirectional power plug. I imagine that the UK ones with their 3-prong unidirectional layout are more cumbersome to work around. My biggest challenge since I use it mainly outside is that I have 2 covered sockets that are just offset enough so that the covers prevent the wart from being plugged in at all (and one where I have to plug it in upside down in the top socket only). It does impact the ease of portability, but not significantly enough to counteract the other major advantages.
I guess I'm just not imaginative enough to come up with a way that makes a wall wart style good in any use case...
Ahhh... the joys of irreconcilable view points... :) As was pointed out some way had to be picked and, yes, you can add a small cord on the end (even pick a different color like white or brown, too, so that it will blend into the background better).
Not having the brick means no hiding and no zip ties. It means being able to hide the wart and snake the thin DC lead to where it needs to go without having to figure out how to hide a brick that is inconveniently in the middle neither near the outlet or near the unit. It allows one to use all of the lead to reach the Boom instead of trying to reach either the Boom or the outlet but being short to one or the other because of the hiding place of the brick. Now sure, in some cases due to perfect Boom and outlet location this will not matter with a brick.
Even more important from a fit and finish view is being able to just deal with bending the small DC lead exiting the wart then to deal with having a stiff large diameter AC cord sticking out in everybody's way from my kitchen center island because the Brick doesn't have a right angle AC plug.
Yes different points of view and I think that Logitech was probably also looking at their largest market when they made the call on Brick or wall wart. Lastly, the wall wart with switchable plugs and a universal switching power supply is the easiest way to deal with distribution to different countries.
Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy a 3 way wall plug for $2. Plug it into your power strip and the wall wart now only takes up one space and you have two additional outlets. Of course this is for power strips that have the inlets running up the strip not across. For across the strip, go to Ikea and buy their cheap 3 outlet power strip with cord for $5 and you now have a Brick-in-the-middle" power supply.
Thanks for the suggestions, and to the previous poster who mentioned the extension cord. Not really a big fan on adding the "extra" stuff. Things just don't fit as snuggly or you end up with extra cord to tuck away. But I guess I'm just looking at what would work best for me, and I do understand the point about kitchens, etc. Maybe not exactly the same thing, but I have seen some Apple laptops, for example, that come with a wall wart type power supply, but also have an included extension that fits together snuggly and effectively turns it into a brick-in-the-middle PS. Possibly something Logitech could look at in the future to appease both sides.
Really a very minor point in my opinion. Certainly not enough to take away from the overall product.
dwilliams01
2008-09-09, 18:23
Like I said, irreconcilable religious differences... :) Your stated advantages to me are disadvantages, mine are to you as well. Either way could be worked around by the other.
Hopefully we can agree on the fact that that all cords are either 6 inches too short of 2 feet too long - and the socket is never where it is needed... :)
Second, and again there may be an engineering reason for this, but I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the way the front angles in from bottom to top, and then the top angles down from front to back. I may be in the minority here, but I think I would have preferred more of a "boxy" unit.
I LOVE the slope of the unit - makes it MUCH more readable on a typical tabletop.
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